Chapter 27

When he reached the end of the street, he stepped over the rail and looked over the edge, he couldn’t see anyone from here. Dropping to his knee, he opened the case and took out his rifle and ammo. Standing he looked around, a tall tree caught his eye. No time to debate it, he thought. Going back over to the other side of the railing, he went over and looked up it. Swinging the rifle to hang flat down his back, he started climbing the old pine? He had no idea what type of tree it was, just that it had a lot of branches that would enable him to go up it fast. The branches were close enough at the bottom that it was almost like going up a ladder. He moved swiftly, ignoring the scrapes along his bare skin. Giving up his shirt may not have been the smartest plan, but Giana parading around naked in front of others was more important and by now half the village would know what was happening.

Pausing, he looked in the direction Giana had pointed out to him, he could see movement down there now. Going up a few more feet he turned and wedged his body between the branches. This was going to be a whole new challenge, to balance his weight and the rifle and not fall out.

With cautious movements, he brought the rifle around and awkwardly loaded it. Raising it up, he was able to use another branch as a support as he leaned his head down to see through the scope. He saw a flash of rust red and then moved it ahead of where the fox was running. He tensed when he got the wild animal in his sight, they needed to slow down, or they were going to reach it before he took it out. It was huge, and the boy had been right, it was angry and lashing out. The way it was weaving around, was going to make getting a good shot hard.

Deacon blew out a breath, centering himself as he made careful adjustments trying to predict the animal’s movement. The bear stopped and reared on its hind legs; Deacon squeezed the trigger. He didn’t pause to see if he’d downed, it, just loaded another round in with a well-practiced move. When it was loaded again, he brought the bear back into his sights. It was down, but still alive. Adjusting his aim for the animal’s head, he squeezed the trigger. The sound of the shot was still echoing when the animal stopped moving.

Blowing out a breath, he moved the rifle slowly, looking for the children, he spotted them on top of a boulder, huddled together. The one was probably around twelve and the girl she was hugging looked to be six or seven. He closed his eyes for a second, waiting for the heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach to settle, and then moved it back to the bear. Walker was there, on the other side of it looking it over. Giana darted past him, wearing only his shirt, and ran to the kids.

His phone vibrating had him almost slip off the branch he was standing on. Great timing, Calum, he thought, shifting so he could reach to get it out of his pocket. He braced his shoulder on the branch and hit the button to answer it.

“Not a good time, Cal, I’m twenty feet up a tree, being stupidly heroic to save some kids from a bear.”

“Did you?”

Deacon jolted it was not Calum on the other end.

“Save the children?”

“Yeah,” he said slowly.

“Then I’d say it was more heroic than stupid.” There was a pause, “it’s Shepard Addison, I was told it was time for us to have a talk. Is this a bad time?”

Deacon looked toward the gorge, then to the ground, “sorry sir, I thought it was Calum calling me back.”

“I gathered that. Calum called me. We’ve been keeping something from you for a long time and the time has come to tell you.”

Deacon adjusted his footing.

“Would you like to get out of the tree first before I continue?”

“Ah,” Deacon braced his shoulder against the limb and moved his rifle off the branch, “it might be a good idea, sir.”

“Very well. I’ll call you back in two minutes.” The line went quiet.

Swearing softly, Deacon jammed the phone into his back pocket and moved the rifle to hang down his back again. What the hell was he talking about? He went down the tree so fast, barely taking the time for his footing to be sure enough before he moved to the next. He felt the bark and hardened sap dragging along his flesh but didn’t have the time to slow down.

His boots hit the ground together as he jumped to the ground. Pulling the rifle off his shoulder, he went over the railing to put it in the case. Turning he saw a small group had gathered and was watching him, he hadn’t even noticed them on the way down.

When the phone buzzed again, he turned his back to them and looked out over the landscape as he answered it.

“Hello.”

“Both feet on the ground now?”

“Yes, sir.” Deacon glanced down the front of him to see spots of blood from the branches on his chest.

“​Good. Before I offer explanations, I’d like to make it clear that Calum was already championing for you to be under the Alliance’s protection before we knew all the details. I’m sure you know he placed you under his protection the moment he found you.”

“Yes, sir, I knew that.” Why Calum had done that, he still didn’t know. At the start Deacon had been nothing but a rude, mouthy, ungrateful brat, but Calum still gave him a chance.

“We still weren’t certain until Calum did further research into your past and of course after he witnessed you shifting in person.”

Deacon scowled at the ground. “I’m not following, sir.”

“We didn’t tell you sooner because Calum didn’t want it to influence you and change who you were becoming.”

Deacon had no idea what he was talking about, none whatsoever.

“The clan breed your mother was from, what you are, son, is very rare now. We have only ever had one other on record in North America.”

“What does that have to do with me, sir?” Deacon tapped his hat against his leg to remove the dried pine needles from it.

“Calum shared with me the reservations you’ve been having—regarding your mate.”

Deacon’s breath left his body all at once. He’d called Giana’s father, his chest tightened, was he about to be forbidden from being near Giana?

“You’re concerned because you have the traits and appearance of your mother’s clan and not your fathers, is that correct?”

“Something like that.” He was struggling with why Calum would ever share any of this with the King of the Alliance. Why?

“I can hear the confusion in your voice, so let me summarize this for you. If once mated to Miss Marin, any more of your kind that turns up, they will be part of your clan. You will have a clan of your own to lead, Mister Parrish.”

Deacon closed his eyes for a second and then opened them. “I don’t want a clan—”

“That’s a common feeling with new Alpha’s son, believe me, many don’t want to be in charge of a clan either.” There was a slight pause, the silence was tense. “I’ll leave you something to think about,” another pause, Deacon wanted him to just spit it all out. “Without you establishing a maned wolf clan here in North America, any others found will be clan less and classified as rogue wanderers…”

Deacon swore every cuss word he could think of in his mind. “I get the picture, sir.”

“I thought you would.” The king sounded amused. “Giana Marin’s Alpha bloodline is no longer an obstacle if you accept this, you’ll be the first Alpha of your kind under the protection of the Alliance.”

Deacon opened his mouth but couldn’t find the words to say. Turning, he saw Giana and Walker coming toward him. She still wore his shirt but had stopped along the way to put her leggings back on. She sent him an inquisitive look. He shrugged because he honestly didn’t know what was happening.

“I’ve rendered you speechless.”

Deacon dragged his gaze from her. “I don’t know what to say, sir.”

The king chuckled. “Humble, I like that. I’m starting to see what Calum has been talking about. I just ask that you consider it, son—and thank you for climbing that tree and saving the children, and for everything else you do for the Alliance. I will have to let you go for now.”

“Th-thank you, sir.” Deacon nodded, “I will think about what you’ve told me.” He was sure it would be all he thought about for the foreseeable future.

“Very good.” The king hung up.

Deacon stared at his phone.

“Did you chat on the phone while climbing the tree and taking those shots?”

He turned to see Walker standing there grinning at him. He motioned to the crowd that had gathered, “they filled us in.”

Giana came over the railing, her gaze moving over his chest. “You’re bleeding.”

Deacon looked down to see the scratches and scrapes. He wiped his hand over his skin, noting that most had stopped oozing blood. “I didn’t know I was climbing a tree when I gave you my shirt.” He looked at Walker, “did you see any cause for the bear to be acting that way?” He dropped down to one knee and closed the rifle case. “I hate killing an animal unnecessarily.”

Walker nodded, then bent down to slip his shoes on. “It looked like its one leg was torn up from a trap at some point.”

“Are bears common around here?” Picking up the case, he swung it over his shoulder.

“Not that far out of the bush.”

Deacon turned his hat around the right way. “You might want to check on where the traps are,” he scanned the group and saw there were a lot of young shifters, “you don’t want a first-timer to land in one.”

Walker nodded, “yeah, I'll go mention that to dad now.”

Giana turned around. Her father and two brothers were walking through the crowd.

“I’ll run interference while you go get a shirt,” Walker tapped the side of his neck, reminding Deacon that with no shirt Giana’s mark was very visible.

“I’ll go grab you a shirt.” Giana hopped over the rail and ran for the van.

Deacon watched her brother get in his father’s way, likely telling him about the traps.

Oren turned to his other sons and motioned in the other direction.

Deacon was pretty they’d just been sent to go run the land and search for traps.

Giana came running back and handed him one of his shirts.

He held out the rifle case to her and then pulled it over his head, jamming his hat back on afterward. His mind was still swimming from the phone call. He made fast work of tucking the shirt in when her father stepped over the rail.

Before the Alpha could reach them, a little girl came running over to the rail. A woman ran after her and stopped her from climbing it. It was the little girl from down in the gorge, he was sure of it.

Deacon acknowledged Giana’s father and held up his hand as he went over to the girl. He leaned down on his knees to look at her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and leaned against her mother’s side.

Deacon stood up and looked at the older sister that had been down there with her. “Zariah?” She nodded. “You did a good job, getting high enough and out of reach.” She looked at him with a frightened expression on her face and sheltering your sister.

“I was so scared,” she whispered.

“Me too,” he told her.

She looked at the tree, “did you really climb the tree and shoot the bear?”

Deacon looked up in the tree, “I did.” As he examined it now, he wasn’t sure he’d do it a second time.

“Thank you.” Her mother said with emotion shaking her voice.

He felt Giana come up beside him.

The woman bowed her head, “thank you, Giana.”

With a shrug, she looked up at him, “it’s kind of what we do,” she told her, with an understanding smile on her face.

Deacon turned to see her father patiently observing the interaction. “Excuse us.” He said quietly and went over to him.

“Thank you,” Oren looked down at his daughter, noting she still held his rifle case, “both of you.” He turned back to Deacon, “I just had an interesting conversation with Shepard Addison,” he paused when Walker came over, “concerning you Mister Parrish.”

Deacon sucked in a quiet breath, wondering if the king had told him he was his daughter’s mate.

“And my daughter’s new role in the Alliance’s system.”

Giana gave Deacon a guarded look, she was expecting the worst as well.

“I’ll admit, I was quite taken back by it, but I do see the need for such a thing.” He held out his hand to Deacon, “if I can ever assist in your task, don’t hesitate to ask.” He shook Deacon’s hand and then released it. Turning to his daughter, he put his hand gently on her shoulder. “Please be careful, Giana.” He stepped back, “I know you have other tasks to do today, so we won’t keep you any longer.” He walked back toward the crowd.

“I’m sorry, did I miss some sort of miraculous event in the last half hour?” Walker smirked as he buttoned up his shirt.

Giana shook her head and looked at Walker, the confusion was clear on her face. “I have no idea what happened.” She glanced back to Deacon, then gave her brother and shrug, “Maybe the king told him what we’ve already accomplished with the team?”

Deacon knew exactly what the king had told her father, but there was no way he could explain it right now—not when he hadn’t thought it through and had an idea of what it meant. He rubbed his hand over his beard, “I say we get going before he changes his mind.”

Giana’s eyes went wide. “Yes.” She nodded. “Yes, let’s get out of here before the magic or whatever that was wears off.” She grinned at Walker and then gave him a quick hug.

“Be safe, babes.” He told her softly. She nodded and lifted the rifle case to her shoulder.

“Love you, bro.” She stepped over the rail and went toward the van.

Walker smirked at Deacon, “you will explain to her what happened, right?”

Deacon couldn’t mask his surprise.

Glancing at his father, Walker shrugged, “I heard him telling Mom.”

Blowing out a breath, Deacon nodded his head slowly, “yeah, as soon as I figure out what the hell just happened, I will.”

Holding out his hand to him, Walker grinned, “you just became my father’s equal—that’s what happened.”

Deacon shook his head and took his hand.

“Try to keep her out of trouble.” Releasing his hand, he walked away.

Deacon looked over to see Giana sitting in the driver’s seat. “I’ll try.” He said to no one and stepped over the rail.